Jason Unger

Newspapers Are Dying, Newspapers Report

Posted by junger - 05/01/08 at 01:05:29 pm

Teens Beat Girl on YouTube: But Why?

Posted by junger - 04/10/08 at 01:04:55 pm

The case of these cheerleaders who recorded their beating of a fellow teenager, 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay, and then posted the video online, has received a lot of attention in the media.

And it should. There's obviously something wrong when a bunch of kids attack another and then promote it as some sort of badge to be proud of. (I'm not going to post the video, but it's easy to find on YouTube.)

The coverage, however, seems to be only focusing on YouTube and MySpace and whether they should block these kinds of videos. The father is even "blaming the Internet" for the beating, which is about as moronic as blaming the telephone for prank phone calls.

But the fundamental question lacking in this entire storyline is an easy one: why?

Why did these teens beat up the other girl? Was it completely unprovoked? Did they do it in order to post a video and get their "15 megabytes of fame"?

(On a side note, that's the dumbest phrase ever. Seriously, stop trying to be punny, people.)

I don't know the answer — the only thing I can find is that "[the] suspected teen attackers claim the victim had been threatening them through postings on her MySpace page," according to WESH, the local NBC affiliate. The cops say they filmed it so they could put it online, but how did it come to that in the first place?

Look, obviously I'm not advocating beating up people and posting videos of it online. It's stupid, and you're going to get arrested. Cyber-bullying is a serious thing, as the family of Megan Meier tragically found out.

But the media isn't doing their duty here. Following the Internet storyline is one segment of the coverage, but every one is making the assumption that that's why they beat her up — to post a video online.

Can we get the real facts here, please?

Confession: I Like Magazines

Posted by junger - 04/07/08 at 09:04:53 am

For a guy who has been making Web sites since he was 14, this might come as a surprise to you, but yes — I like magazines.

Yeah, I know, it's very anti-"new media" of me, but magazines still have a place in the world. (Newspapers do too, but that's another story.)

I actually subscribe to a number of magazines (mostly because I get them for free) and enjoy leafing through them.

Working for a magazine publishing company (running Web sites), I get astounded when print people think their product has any timeliness. It doesn't. You can't run news in magazines because it takes six weeks to produce the product and get it out to your readers.

So what does that distill magazines to? Feature stories, mostly. And big pictures.

Paper will always have an advantage over digital media when it comes to pictures. There's nothing like a two-page spread of a sunset or a slam dunk or the running of the bulls.

Magazines come with an experience that new media doesn't. You sit down, you relax, you kick your feet back and you open up a magazine. It's a completely passive relationship.

Online, the experience is much more active. You can post a comment, blog about it, or just surf away.

Magazines certainly have a place in the new media world. But they can't compete with digital communication when it comes to breaking news and participatory conversations.

It doesn't matter, though. It's a different experience. Not better, not worse. Just different. That's why I like them.

Audio: Benazir Bhutto, the Media, and 24

Posted by junger - 12/27/07 at 04:12:33 pm

Presenting the first Jason Unger podcast!

(RSS readers, you should be able to download the mp3 using the link below)

[audio:071227.mp3]

I'll try and post these thoughts of the day when I can. It's a lot easier to record a bit of audio and discuss what's going on than try and type it out clearly and concisely!

Brian Williams on the Shift in Media

Posted by junger - 12/20/07 at 05:12:11 pm

During last night's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams, speaking to Time magazine's Richard Stengel, made an off-hand comment I found interesting.

"I was surprised to learn that Time.com comes out in a paper version," he told Stengel, laughing it off.

For a guy in his position — the man behind the desk, the anchor of the national evening news — it's a funny thing to say. But, at least to me, it shows that he and NBC have the right mindset when dealing with the shift in media caused by technology.

Normally, the old media types are so afraid of technology that they make dumb decisions that end up shooting themselves in the foot.

NBC doesn't seem to be doing that.

The only reason I heard Williams' quote was because I was watching his broadcast today as a podcast. It's one of my two daily news podcasts, along with Anderson Cooper 360.

NBC streams the whole broadcast, adding in-house ads where the commercials would normally be. It's great — I wouldn't normally be watching Williams at night, but since I can watch it on my own time, I do.

Good for NBC for adopting technology and making their content available by different means.